Acquiring career capital components for knowledge workers across different industries

Abstract

The competitive nature of the world of work today and the resultant opportunities in global career mobility for knowledge workers is gaining momentum across industries. This emergence of the global economy has prompted the need to investigate the differences or similarities of career capital components and methods of acquisition and accrual across industries.The research was conducted in two phases. The first quantitative phase was set out to investigate career capital components and methods of acquisition in the manufacturing industry. The results obtained on phase 1, were used together with the secondary data previously obtained through three pieces of research done on career capital in three different industries, to ascertain the differences in career capital components and methods of accrual across four different industries. The total sample size representing the four industries was 200.The research has defined specific career capital components and methods used to acquire career capital that are relevant to knowledge workers in the manufacturing industry. The findings have been used to develop a model to help organisations understand the career needs of the manufacturing knowledge worker with specific enablers and core career capital highlighted. The research further helped draw conclusions on the differences and similarities of career capital components and methods used by knowledge workers across industries.